And in This Corner
by BTL
Summary: A tale of two perspectives set after "Time Keeps On Slippin'".


Hey folks! Here's another story that I've been working on. (Members

of PEEL may recall that I first posted there about this, looking for beta-readers, something like four(!) years ago. So that should really read 'another

story that I've been working on since the Day Before Forever. Anywhoo.)

My thanks to newhook_1, Zoidyzoid, SpaceCase, Boingo2000, Nurdbot,

Kryten, bender&fry, DrJohnZ, and anyone I might've forgotten. Short but

sweet (something familiar about that combo... ;) ), and I think you'll

like it. Enjoy!

_The characters here are not owned by me (I'm just borrowing them), so please don't sue me/hurt me/kick me/make me vote Republican. I'm only posting this to a small number of sites; anyone that wants to post it elsewhere should ask my permission and credit me accordingly. No hablo espaneol. (sic) Should _

_not be taken internally. Stays crunchy even in Mom's Friendly Robot Oil._

***

"And in This Corner..."

A Futurama Fanfic by THM

**Fry**

It hurt.

I've been watching the stars for like, a whole day

as we fly back to Earth, and that's the only thing I can think

about.

The stuff that happened. The things she said. How she

never saw the most important thing of all. And how lousy I

feel.

We're far enough away from what used to be the

Tempis Nebula that you can't see that stupid black

hole anymore. Stupid professor and his stupid doomsday

devices. Man, it figures that the one whole time in my

stupid life I manage to do something big and showy

and romantic for a girl I like, it gets blown

up before she can see it and remember she saw it. It's

just not fair. I mean, what the hell else can I do? I

stick up for her with that whole extra-eye thing

(even when nobody else did), I help her dump that

awful Alcazar guy; I even learn how to drive the ship,

and use STARS to tell her how I feel, and what do I

get? Nothing; maybe a kiss on the cheek, but

c'mon, she's kissed _Bender_ on the cheek before.

How much can something like that mean, if she does it

to someone she spends most of her time yelling at?

Of course, she yells at me a lot, too; I guess that

means that I'm not any better than some alcoholic,

foul-mouthed, klepto robot. (And that's coming

from his best friend!) She probably would've been

happier if I'd let those worms stay in my body - hell,

we'd probably already _be_ married by now; we'd be

living together in her apartment, or a house even, and

we'd travel through space together. And at night we'd

come home and I'd cook dinner for her and play the

holophoner for her, and she'd eat and listen and

laugh and be happy. Only problem is, it wouldn't

be me she'd be in love with - it'd be the worms. I'd

just be along for the ride. I thought that was painful

when she turned me down then; this is a million

times worse. Maybe I should've given up then, instead

of pretending; it's not like I've done any better

since. I'd probably be a lot happier right now.

I guess.

***

(Leela)

It hurt.

That's the one idea that's been going in and

out of my head all damn day. Up 'till now, I haven't

had time to think about what's happened; and the more

I do, the madder I get. Whatever trick he

pulled to get me to the altar has to be the lowest,

most irresponsible...and most painful thing he's

ever done. From a guy that does stupid, irresponsible

things on a daily basis, that's a real achievement. I

don't think I've _ever_ been so humiliated in my entire

life - me, ol' "One-Eye", the original 31st century

Terminally Dateless Girl. Serves him right what

happened; idiot deserves it, after the way he

treated me. He just _had_ to marry me in a

cathedral, right? Probably convinced me that it'd

be more 'romantic' that way; two people 'joining

their hearts' before the maximum number of people

possible - you know, for more witnesses, so nobody

could say they missed Philip J. Fry's ultimate

prank.

Jerk; I bet he even got Bender to grab the

crowd at the damn bus station again, the lazy, stupid,

thieving little -

Whoops; guess I didn't see that meteor coming. Great,

I'm so annoyed I can't fly straight. Dammit; I swear, this

is just like that whole fiasco with the worms - he

changes for the better, and all that happens is I end

up feeling like a moron. Well, maybe not exactly like

the worms; at least then he was acting like a gentleman

for awhile! Honestly, with all the stuff he does, it's

a wonder I don't smack him so hard, he wakes up in

_another_ thousand years!

I think I'll just drive for awhile; it helps me to

relax, and I've got to calm down. Professor Farnsworth

would be mad if we ended up crashing - again.

I watch the stars as they stream past, and,

slowly at first, I can feel myself unwinding. I mean,

things _could_ be a lot worse; we could still be

married. And even though it was a nasty trick, there

are worse guys I know than Fry who could've done

it - a certain fat, velour-covered gasbag comes to

mind, and I shudder. And he did apologise; I know for a

fact that Zapp would never have apologised. And he wouldn't

have argued against me getting that extra eye, either; he

would've loved me to become 'normal'; that way, he could

say he'd 'conquered' me twice.

Fry did oppose it, though; and he defends me, even if he isn't

smart enough to do it right. Then there's the thing with that

sleaze Alcazar. Nobody else saw how miserable I was when I was

with him; nobody else tried to talk me out of marrying him. And

when he burst into the ceremony on the back of that

lizard...I'm repeating myself, I know, but nobody else

could've gone to such lengths to stop the wedding - nobody

else _would_ have.

Then there's the worms. I know that they were parasites,

and that the only reason he got them in the first place is that

he was dumb enough to eat a sandwich from a truck-stop

bathroom vending machine, but still...he was so much better

then. He wasn't whiny or lazy or stupid or inconsiderate

then; in the space of a few hours, he became a perfect

gentleman - and he looked _damn_ good, too. Part of me misses

that Fry, even now; well, especially now. The Fry with

worms would never have pulled a stunt like that; he

wouldn't have had to trick me into marrying him - I'd have

said yes at the drop of a hat.

But he was right in the end, the stupid jerk;

if it'd been me in his place I would've wanted to

check, too - whether I was loved for who I was, or

what some parasites had turned me into.

Maybe we could've made it work; I guess I'd have

been amenable to it, if whatever he'd done hadn't been

a trick. If he'd have done something wonderful, like save

my life or something, that would've made a big impression.

Less than that, even; if he'd just grown up a bit. Hell,

if he grew up a bit, he'd at least get a date. And while I'm

on the subject, there's that thing he had with Amy; you

couldn't call it a relationship - neither of them acted

like they were old enough to have one! And the minute she

asks for an iota of commitment, whoosh!; he's gone.

But then I bailed him out at Elzar's. I could've

left him to suffer, but I didn't. I know part of the reason;

despite all his faults, he's my friend, and even if he been

acting like a pig throughout that whole Amy fiasco, having

to be a third wheel at the end of her Valentine's Day date

was too much. The other part...

The other part...I don't know.

Or maybe I do.

***

**Fry**

Two days. I didn't know that two whole days could go so

slowly. Two days since the time slips were fixed. Two days since

my message was destroyed. Two days since things went back to

'normal' - well, normal for here, anyway. Planet Express

is still here, still delivering stuff, so life goes on,

I guess. If you looked at us, you'd think the whole stupid

thing had never happened.

Leela and I haven't said two words to each other in two

days; that's different. I mean, she still orders me and Bender

around, but that's not the same thing; we always did kinda talk

now and then, even if she did end up telling me to shut up at the

end. And with the ordering; she still bosses me

around, but it's like she's distracted or something - her

heart isn't in it. I kinda hope that that means she's

thinking about all the stuff that went on, but I doubt

it; she made it pretty clear how she feels. I guess it was

always one-sided, you know?

That's what I'd been thinking for most of the last

couple of days; then I talked to Dr. Zoidberg. He's a pretty cool

guy, even if he does say goofy stuff sometimes, and cuts stuff

off that doesn't need to be and all. (Although we did forgive

each other for that whole Edna thing - I mean, it's kind of

hard for two guys to be mad at each other over a chick, when

the chick in question is dead!) We were talking about

junk and whatever in his office while he was poking

around in my intestines (man, I _have_ to stop eating weird stuff

outta vending machines), and I thought I'd ask him - he's a

guy, right? I knew he knew something about women - I'd taught

him everything I knew, after all. Plus, Amy'd got him a book

called, "Women for Complete Morons", so...

But we were talking about women and stuff, y'know, and

in the middle of that, what does he come out with? Not much...

just that Leela _does_ kinda like me! At least that's what she

told him. Something about she doesn't want to push me away, and

some other junk. When I heard that, I was like, "All right!

She likes me!", an' stuff. "My chances with her aren't totally

boned after all!"

Then again, maybe they are; see, there was this thing

she said when she said that other stuff. If I did it, maybe

we could get together. But it's tough, though, this thing

I gotta do. I've got to Grow Up. Be more, y'know,

Responsible. And Mature. More like an Adult, less like a

kid; take my life more seriously.

And I'm not sure I want to; I mean, life's pretty cool

the way it is...bumming around with Bender, cruisin' for

chicks, blasting around the Universe and having adventures.

Why do I wanna mess with that? It's not like my life's

gonna get any better; I'm stuck as a delivery boy,

forever. But then, I think about Leela, and then...I

dunno. It's like this new thought comes into my head; if

I can't have what I want most in the whole world, what's so

great about my life anyway?

And there's something else. I'm not sure what it means,

or even if it means anything at all. I'm not an expert at

deep meanings from people and stuff like that. And

it did happen pretty fast, too, so maybe I made a

mistake. It was the end of the day, yesterday; we'd got

back to the office, and were getting the equipment and

stuff put away. I came back from putting something

back, and that's when I saw it. Leela was on the

cargo lift, checking something with Hermes. I'd been

looking at my feet most of the way over, but when I

looked up, there she was, looking back. I dunno if she'd

been watching me the whole time or not, but she was

looking at me now.

I've had a whole day to think about it, and I'm still

kinda not sure what the look on her face was. It was kinda

sad, like she missed something. But it was more than that;

there was something else, I think - like hope,

too. She looked away really quickly, but I'm sure I saw

it. It was like she was saying, "Maybe", you know, but not

using words or anything.

So I'm gonna try - to grow up some, be a better

guy. It's not gonna be easy, and maybe I'll screw it up. But

I'm gonna try anyway; 'cause if that look means what I think

it does, then...maybe.

Maybe I do have a chance, after all.

FINIS.

_Thank you, and goodnight._


End file.
